www. vs http://

[watts3000]

Can someone tell me the difference between websites that use www and http

 

[bozo1]

huh?

 

[zigCorsair]

http is a protocol, which typically operates off port 80.

www is a prefix attached to most domain names, creating a subdomain usually redirected to the webserver.

www.microsoft.com is (in original theory) a different webserver than support.microsoft.com

both of these sites are accessed via http.

http://www.microsoft.com
http://support.microsoft.com

Hope this helps.

 

[NogginBoink]

ALL websites use the http protocol.

When you don't type http:// into your browser's address bar, the browser assumes http://

www. is usually the name of the machine hosting the web content. www.microsoft.com is a machine named www in the microsoft.com domain.

You could also go to ftp://www.microsoft.com to attempt to connect to any ftp server that might be running on the machine named www in the microsoft.com domain.

 

[freebsddude]

Typically browsers these days do not require you to type http:// as NogginBoink pointed out.

So say you have to go to microsoft's web site, you could type one of the following:

1. http://www.microsoft.com
2. www.microsoft.com
3. microsoft.com (this only works if the web site supports it).

One more thing, I believe outlook and word, and other similar programs rely on http:// or www in front of them to turn them into a clickable hyperlink. www.microsoft.com or any other for that matter, is generally a host name or the name of a machine owned by the web site (you probably already know some/all of this!).